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UFDN 2000/3001: “Christian Scripture”

UFDN 2000/3001: "Christian Scripture" explores the formative role that Christian Scripture performs within the community of believers. You are introduced to the literature and theology of both Old and New Testaments, and provided with the necessary skills to make a responsible use of Scripture as the church’s principal authority in nurturing a Christian’s faith and witness.

The School of Theology intends that all students learn the Christian Scripture according to the ancient world behind the biblical texts, the literary world within the biblical texts, and the social world in front of the biblical texts. This course is taken in either the your sophomore or your junior year of study. It is also taken by transfer students who begin their studies as juniors or seniors.

In UFDN 2000/3001: “Christian Scripture,” you will learn:

The most important aspects of the religious, political, sociological, and geographical forces that helped shape biblical literature.

The master plotline of the biblical story of God, and the order of collections that compose the biblical canon that narrates this story.

The literary genre and rhetorical conventions of biblical compositions, and the transmission and translation of these ancient writings in today's readership.

The core Christian beliefs and essential religious practices related to the Bible, and how your particular social, religious, and cultural locations contribute to the meanings you make of these sacred texts.

“If someone were going to invent a story designed to make a people look good and therefore deserving of divine election, the result would never have been the Old Testament depiction of Israel… Just as Israel did not deserve to be divinely elected, the world did not deserve to receive the benefits of God’s grace either; but in both cases God’s limitless and amazing grace was operative.”